1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to glass processing machines, more particularly, to improved roller supports for glass processing equipment.
2. Background Information
Processing lines for glass products, such as automobile windshields, window units, or the like, generally include a series of rollers for supporting and advancing the workpiece. The rollers may be driven for automatically advancing the glass sheet. The series of rollers can be incorporated into a wide variety of glass processing equipment, such as a cutting table used to sever glass workpieces, a glass washing machine used to clean glass workpieces for subsequent processing, an oven used for heating glass workpieces and curing additions thereto and a transfer table or conveyor used simply to transport product to a station such as a breakout station, a grinding station, an inspection station or a polishing station. These examples are intended to represent the wide variety of glass processing equipment which may incorporate rollers. Essentially, any automated operation required to be performed on the desired workpiece may incorporate rollers supporting the workpiece.
In designing a specific piece of glass processing equipment utilizing a series of rollers for workpiece support, the spacing of the rollers is important. Of course the rollers must be spaced sufficiently close together to provide adequate support for the workpiece and easily advance the workpiece. More significantly, however, is the need to position the rollers around other components of the specific glass processing equipment. With this criteria in mind, roller supports have been designed to increase the flexibility of the specific roller placement design.
For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,676 to Hallahan which is assigned to Billco Manufacturing, Inc. the assignee of the present application. The '676 patent discloses a glass workpiece oven in which roller supports, and other components of the oven, are attached to a unistrut structure 54. The roller supports are best illustrated in FIG. 7 and comprise bearing stands which are bolted by a pair of spaced bolts to the unistrut structure 54. The unistrut structure 54 allows the rollers to be relatively easily positioned along the length thereof. The unistrut structure 54 allows for easy installation, replacement or movement of the respective rollers, thereby allowing the machine to be easily designed to the specific user requirements.
The relatively flexible design of the '676 patent has several drawbacks. The design of the '676 patent does not provide for fast bearing removal, particularly on rollers having drive components, collars, water seals or the like. The design of the '676 patent does not provide for easy removal of the bearing using a minimum of tools. The design of the '676 patent does not provide for the close arrangement of adjacent rollers.
Additionally, in certain equipment upper rollers are used, positioned opposed from lower rollers to form a pinch roll combination for engaging and advancing the workpiece. In glass washing machines, for example, pinch rolls have been used for engaging the glass workpiece at selected locations along the washer. The design of the '676 patent does not provide for an upper set of rollers, such as may be used in a glass washing machine.
It is the object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.